Yazidis

The U.S.-led coalition conducted 12 air strikes against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants in Syria on Dec. 22 and 10 strikes Iraq, the U.S. military said in a statement.
   

Kurdish and Yazidi fighters battled to take the strategic northern Iraqi town of Sinjar back from
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Dec. 21 after breaking a months-long siege of the mountain above it.

Seizing the town would restore the majority of territory Iraq's Kurds lost in the jihadist group's surprise August offensive.

Iraqi Kurds claimed Dec. 18 to have broken a siege on a mountain where Yazidi civilians and fighters have long been trapped as the US said air strikes killed several Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) leaders in recent weeks.
      

Kurdish forces backed up by US-led warplanes have recaptured a large area in Iraq near the Syrian border in an offensive against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) jihadists, a top US commander said Dec. 18.
      

Visa policies are causing Turkey to become a way station for refugees from around the world hoping to cross into Europe, a parliamentary report says Turkey has increasingly become a bridge for human trafficking, as citizens of developing countries exploit its visa exemption policies to use its territory as a stepping stone to reach Europe, according to a parliamentary report.